The 24th Zambian Reformed Conference

Yesterday
(Thursday, August 22), I was back in the Radio Christian Voice studio on Alick
Nkhanta Road to do a 15-minute advert for the 24th Zambian Reformed
Conference and School of Theology. Around the same time last year, I was in the
same studio with Mr. Charles Bota, the all-round and able chairman of the
Conference organising committee doing a similar task.

From
Monday, 26th August to Friday 30th August, Christians
from across the length and breadth of Zambia, and from neighbouring countries
(Botswana, Kenya, Malawi, Namibia, South Africa, Uganda) and from afar field, the United Kingdom and United
States of America, etc) will be converging in Lusaka for our annual spiritual
feast. As usual, Namibia is bringing the largest contingent of all foreign
delegates – more than 40, followed by South Africa with 23. The organising
committee has already indicated that more than 1,400 delegates have registered
for the conference.

The new Lusaka Baptist Church building, traditional venue for the Zambian Reformed Conference

The
theme this year is “The Christian Life – Finding Assurance, Fighting
Temptation.” The Keynote address will be given by Pastor Ronald Kalifungwa of
Lusaka Baptist Church.

Sooner
or later, most Christians will contend with the problem of assurance of
salvation. Those wanderings in the wilderness of doubt, questioning our
salvation or even questioning the love and grace of God. We might live with the
foreboding guilt feelings because of some past sin or some present battle with
the flesh. To help us find answers to our assurance dilemma is Pastor Tabithi Anyabwile.

Pastor
Thabiti Anyabwile is senior pastor of First Baptist Church of Grand Cayman (the
largest of the three islands in the Cayman, just under Cuba, south of the
Florida peninsula). He is a native of Lexington, North Carolina. He was
previously an assistant pastor at Capitol Hill Baptist Church (Washington, DC)
and served as an elder at Church on the Rock (Raleigh, NC). Thabiti has a
strong professional and academic background in community psychology, with
special interest in the history and development of the African American church.
He holds B.A. and M.S. degrees in psychology from North Carolina State University.
He and his wife, Kristie, have three children.

I first
met Tabithi at the Together for the Gospel Conference in Louisville, KY in
2008. He is a regular speaker at T4G every two years. At last year’s conference
(2012), he preached a powerful sermon, "Will Your Gospel Transform a
Terrorist?" which still echoes in my mind. He has He has authored,
co-authored and contributed to about 14 books, which include: “The Gospel for
Muslims: An Encouragement to Share Christ with Confidence”; “Finding Faithful
Elders and Deacons"; "Baptism and the Lord's Supper”; “Holy, Holy, Holy: Proclaiming the
Perfections of God” (with DA Carson and 9 other contributors).

Me with Pastor Tabithi Anyabwile at the T4G 2010 in Louisville, KY

Every Christian soon discovers that he fights
battles on another front – temptations. John E. Bode (1816-1874) sums this up
very well in his hymn, O Jesus I Have
Promised:

O let me feel Thee near me!

The world is ever near;

I see the sights that dazzle,

The tempting sounds I hear;

My foes are ever near me,

Around me and within;

But Jesus, draw thou nearer,

And shield my soul from sin.

No
matter where we go, there will always be a situation that requires us to choose
between two paths - the road to righteousness or the path of
self-righteousness. Traversing the road to righteousness is not always bees and
sunshine. In fact, living in the straight and narrow path is the hardest life
to live. It is a fight. Dr. Donald
Arthur Carson, otherwise popularly known as DA Carson will provide us with biblical resources to rescue us from
the island of temptation.

Dr. DA Carson

DA
Carson is a native of Canada, an astute theologian, exegete, scholar and
prolific writer. Currently, he is serving as a Research Professor of New
Testament at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Deerfield, Illinois. Carson
has a B.S. in Chemistry from McGill University, a M.Div. from Central Baptist
Seminary in Toronto, Canada, and a Ph.D in New Testament from Cambridge
University. He has written or edited more than forty-five books, including
commentaries on books of the Bible. His book, The Gagging of God: Christianity Confronts
Pluralism (1996), won the 1997 Evangelical Christian Publishers Association
Gold Medallion Book Award in the category of “theology and doctrine.”

Read what others say about DA Carson:

“D. A.
Carson is one of the most prolific and profound biblical scholars of our
generation.” John D. Woodbridge, Research Professor, Church History and
History of Christian Thought, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School.

“D. A.
Carson is for this generation what B. B. Warfield was for his - the scholarly
stalwart for the doctrine of Scripture, possessed of prodigious skills both as
an interpreter of Scripture and as a biblical and systematic theologian,
critically engaging the most significant arguments of the day and upholding the
historic position of the Christian church and the Bible’s own self-attestation.
Everything that comes from his pen is worthy of careful attention…” J. Ligon
Duncan, John E. Richards Professor of Systematic and Historical Theology,
Reformed Theological Seminary; Senior Minister, First Presbyterian Church,
Jackson, Mississippi, and now Chancellor elect and CEO of the Reformed
Theological Seminary.

“I’ve
always admired Don Carson’s ability to minister so effectively in two different
worlds. On the one hand, he’s one of the sharpest-thinking, best-respected
minds in the realm of New Testament scholarship. On the other, he’s one of the
clearest, most down-to-earth preachers I’ve ever heard. He simply has a
remarkable ability both to grasp and to communicate complex issues
understandably. Donald S. Whitney, Associate Professor of Biblical
Spirituality, Senior Associate Dean of the School of Theology, The Southern
Baptist Theological Seminary.

3.
The means of grace: Private and Public as they relate to temptation and Assurance. Speaker: Kennedy Sunkutu – Tuesday
Family Conference
4. Post modernism - Applications to the African context. Speaker: Rev. David
Wegener – Tuesday. This is only for the School of Theology.

5. Meeting the Islamic advance
in Zambia - Speaker: Thabiti Anyabwile - Thursday
Plenary session for both Family Conference and School of Theology.

Looking
forward to the 5 days of sitting by the green pastures of God’s Word. Don't miss out on this one. May the
Lord bless His Word to our hearts and unleash us into this world firmly assured
of our position in Christ, and armed to fight the vicious temptations of life.